In a light rain, his final round in the Northern Trust Open long over, K.J. Choi waited.

He waited last February to see if James Hahn could close out a win on the 18th hole at Los Angeles” Riviera Country Club. When that didn”t happen, he waited through one hole of a playoff. Then two. Then three.

Understand, this was like Jack Nicklaus hanging around in his prime to see some little-known tour pro grind to get his first victory.

“The Godfather” is how Choi is known among South Korean golfers. Now 45, he has eight PGA Tour wins and the undying respect of those who have come from Asia to follow in his footsteps.

For Choi to be there to support Hahn was an extraordinary gesture. For Hahn to pull through, to make nervy putts and beat two of the best players in the world in Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey, was something no one saw coming.

“There were a lot of amazing things that happened that day,” Hahn recalled in an interview last week at Pebble Beach, where he missed the cut. “But my favorite is getting the trophy and having K.J. Choi there with me. It meant everything to me. They took a photograph of us together with the trophy. I still need to get him to sign that picture.”

Hahn, who played college golf at Cal, returns this week for the NTO, and his remarkable first tour victory at age 34 will be mostly an afterthought in the buildup to the second meeting of the year between world No. 1 Jordan Spieth and No. 3 Rory McIlroy.

Hahn gets that. He”s as much a golf fan as he is a competitor, but it doesn”t take anything away from his underdog win on one of America”s most storied golf courses.

“Absolutely, it matters who I beat that day,” Hahn said. “You look at who finished in the top 10 that week — Dustin Johnson, Paul Casey; Jordan was up there; Sergio Garcia, Hideki Matsuyama. I”m proud of coming out on top of those guys.”

Spieth and Garcia missed the playoff by one shot. Playing in the final group, Johnson and Hahn each shot 69, and Casey forced his way into extra holes with a 68. After the trio parred the 18th, the first playoff hole, Hahn and Johnson hit stellar flop shots at the par-4 10th to make birdie and eliminate Casey.

On the third extra hole, the par-3 14th, it was advantage Johnson, who striped his tee shot to 12 feet, while Hahn had 23 feet. But for the second time on the day, Hahn drained a long putt on a par-3. He had made a 57-foot bomb at the fourth and now he calmly stroked in this birdie.

“Hit a perfect putt, had perfect speed,” Hahn recalled.

Hahn bowed his head for Johnson”s putt, not raising it until he heard the “ahhhhs” as the ball slid inches left of the hole. What Hahn said he recalled in those next moments were all the people who supported him when others had long ago written him off. The victory was widely celebrated in the South Korean community in Los Angeles, Hahn said.

Hahn was 29 when he reached the Web.com tour in 2010. He won on that circuit in 2012, which got him full time on the PGA Tour in ”13. His $2 million in earnings last season matched what he had made in the previous five years.

McIlroy adds Riviera for first time: McIlroy has heard enough of Riviera that he decided to play the Northern Trust Open for the first time, and 27 holes over the last two days have left him convinced that it was a smart move and that it was worth it to add one more event to a busy schedule. He is playing five of the next six weeks, and every field will be among the strongest in golf for this time of the year.

Jordan”s decision: Ten years ago in the Rose Bowl, Texas beat USC in one of the best college football championship games, and a 12-year-old in Dallas was watching. Spieth still hadn”t made his college decision.

“At the time, I was looking into visiting both schools on unofficial visits once I was really a sophomore in high school,” he said. “No, that didn”t convince me to go to either. I was still equally considering, but I was rooting for Texas given I was in Dallas with a lot of family and friends who are obviously Texas fans.”

Spieth wound up going to Texas for three semesters before turning pro, but the appeal of USC was strong. “A huge thing for me with USC was I heard that they had four playing memberships at Riviera,” he said. “So when I came out on my visit, I was offered one of the memberships at Riviera for the time you”re at USC. And that”s a pretty awesome perk.”